CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, sometimes referred to as "Captain Truth," is once again donning his firefighter's uniform and sprinting headlong into the blazing edifice of American democracy — this time in response to President Donald Trump's remarks about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and the allegations that she committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother.
Congresswoman Omar has denied this and other claims about her as "disgusting lies." But Trump was willing to dive right in.https://t.co/XcTftAN0fR https://t.co/rJqpMpvtam
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 17, 2019
If a politician's denial—in a story published in October 2018—is good enough for Jim Acosta and his ironclad commitment to the truth, then so be it. This standard, however, would seem to preclude all criticism and airing of allegations aimed at President Trump, who vehemently denies pretty much everything. So maybe Acosta is just being a hack, and simply tweeting out a story Omar's office was (most likely) sending around to political reporters.
From AP last year: https://t.co/PUZlEreaGo
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 17, 2019
Acosta and his fellow heroes were not as eager to share the Minneapolis Star Tribune's much more recent reporting on Omar's unusual marital history, sparked by a state campaign finance investigation that found evidence Omar had improperly filed joint federal tax returns with her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, while she was still legally married to her previous husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. The Tribune's efforts to investigate the allegations were stonewalled by Omar's office at every turn, and "could neither conclusively confirm nor rebut the allegation that [Elmi] is Omar’s sibling."
Omar's office has deemed such questions off-limits for "legitimate media outlets" that "have a responsibility not to fan the flames of hate." For Acosta and other national political reporters, that's probably a sufficient reason to ignore the story. Because nothing says "this isn't a legitimate story" like a statement from a politician's spokesperson insisting that it's not a legitimate story.